Dr. William Petit and a former Republican state senator called Wednesday for ending the Malloy administration's early release program for violent criminals.

Standing on the town green in Cheshire, Petit signed a petition that is being circulated by former Republican state Sen. Len Suzio of Meriden to roll back the law for violent criminals. Petit also endorsed Suzio in his rematch against state Sen. Dante Bartolomeo, a Meriden Democrat who defeated Suzio two years ago by 279 votes.

"I support Len in his efforts to get a special session and get this law repealed,'' Petit told reporters and TV camera crews on a sunny day. "The sentence that is given by the judge ought to be the sentence that is served. ... I just think it's a bad idea in terms of the criminal justice system, and it's something that should be repealed.''

The Malloy administration counters that crime has gone down in recent years - leading to fewer people being sent to prison and fewer being released from prison.

Petit is the lone survivor of the 2007 Cheshire home invasion and arson that resulted in the murder of his wife and two daughters. Two criminals, Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky, were convicted in the case after lengthy trials and are both facing the death penalty.

"I don't think there's much data to support the fact that people are being rehabilitated by taking courses and signing up for the things that allow them to get early release credits,'' Petit said.

Petit added, "Early release due to participation in activities that may have absolutely nothing to do with the convicted person's pathology and shortcomings are not an appropriate substitute for justice nor true rehabilitation.''

Suzio described the early release program as "the worst law passed in the Connecticut legislature in the last 20 years.''

Under the petition, the law would be rolled back only for violent criminals and not for nonviolent criminals.

The program has been defended repeatedly by Michael P. Lawlor, a former Democratic state legislator who co-chaired the judiciary committee before becoming Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's chief criminal justice adviser.

The administration released statistics that said that 22,720 inmates received discretionary or early release during the first three years of the Malloy administration, compared to 25,205 releases during the last three years of Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell's tenure.

More criminals were admitted to the prisons under Rell than Malloy, according to Malloy's statistics. In the last three years of Rell's term, 94,668 were admitted to the prisons and jails, including pre-trial detainees who had not yet been convicted or sentenced. In the first three years under Malloy, 80,622 people were admitted to the correctional system.

Including those who were paroled or completed their sentence, 41,546 were released during the final three years under Rell compared to 34,924 in Malloy's first three years, according to Malloy's statistics.

Among those sentenced to prison, the numbers dropped from 26,889 under Rell to 23,463 in the first three years of the Malloy administration.

"Crime is at historic lows,'' said Malloy's spokesman, Andrew Doba. "Fewer inmates have been released under Governor Malloy than under Governor Rell. And violent offenders are serving longer sentences and committing fewer crimes after they are released. How do we know? Because crime is at historic lows.''